SL-30 acting up today...

Anyone out there had any problems with the Garmin SL-30 Com/Nav radio? I noticed the COMM side of the box having problems today. I would put in a frequency and watch it disappear after about 3 seconds. IF I hurried and pushed the flip/flop button, it would again disappear as if I had done nothing. If I entered the frequency then pushed the COM button to invoke MONITOR mode, the letter "M" would light up and the frequency would stick. Then I could push the flip/flop button and the new frequency would then become the active channel on the COMM radio.

Anybody seen this one before?

no, but I enjoyed visiting with you guys

I'll be interested in what caused this, since I have that radio as well

cheers

n2prise said:

Anybody seen this one before?

Click to expand...

No, but my first guess would be a "sticky" or contaminated switch on the front panel.

I would try removing the radio from the tray, carefully cleaning every contact, pin and switch you can reach with contact cleaner, and firmly reinserting it in the tray. This will often exorcise odd, intermittent electronic problems.

sl-30

[nyone out there had any problems with the Garmin SL-30 Com/Nav radio? I noticed the COMM side of the box having problems today. I would put in a frequency and watch it disappear after about 3 seconds. IF I hurried and pushed the flip/flop button, it would again disappear as if I had done nothing. If I entered the frequency then pushed the COM button to invoke MONITOR mode, the letter "M" would light up and the frequency would stick. Then I could push the flip/flop button and the new frequency would then become the active channel on the COMM radio.

Anybody seen this one before?

I just had this same problem with my sl-30. I am running Dynon 100 and 120. I had them hooked up with the null modem and gender changer as per instruction. I unhooked that setup and my sl-30 problems went away. Not sure why but have not had a problem since I unhooked those two units throught the serial port connections. Hope it helps

Brad

Interface speed...

byrdman36 said:

[nyone out there had any problems with the Garmin SL-30 Com/Nav radio? I noticed the COMM side of the box having problems today. I would put in a frequency and watch it disappear after about 3 seconds. IF I hurried and pushed the flip/flop button, it would again disappear as if I had done nothing. If I entered the frequency then pushed the COM button to invoke MONITOR mode, the letter "M" would light up and the frequency would stick. Then I could push the flip/flop button and the new frequency would then become the active channel on the COMM radio.

Anybody seen this one before?

I just had this same problem with my sl-30. I am running Dynon 100 and 120. I had them hooked up with the null modem and gender changer as per instruction. I unhooked that setup and my sl-30 problems went away. Not sure why but have not had a problem since I unhooked those two units throught the serial port connections. Hope it helps

Brad

Click to expand...

Can you run the interface at a slower speed?

Possibly sounds like the processor can't keep up...

....just an easy ting to try.... gil A

display

Jerry,
My SL-40 display on the right side would fade out after the unit warmed up.
Sent it back to apollo on monday and had it back on friday.
They said it was a bad led driver on the display.
Rich
RV-6A
750 hrs

Not sure if this is related to the SL30 problems but when designing my panel I ran into what I considered an ambiguity or potential problem with the way Dynon suggests connecting the EFIS, EMS, GPS and SL30. Dynon states the EFIS and EMS should be connected to each other via the DSAB bus PLUS via a null modem connection on the primary serial channel to allow the EFIS and EMS to share screen data. If you have both a GPS and SL30, they recommend connecting the GPS to aux serial channel receive (pin 19) on the EMS and the SL30 to serial channel receive (pin 22) on the EFIS. This configuration allows the EMS to display an HSI sourced from the GPS and the EFIS to display a HSI sourced from both the SL30 and GPS. Well…. Connecting the SL30 to the serial input of the EFIS could be a problem since they already have you connect the EFIS and EMS primary serial channel together with a null modem. So, you end up with both the EMS and the SL30 driving the same serial line which is a no-no unless the electronic interface is designed for such and a communication protocol allowing communication is used which I’m sure is not the case. You would also need to be able to disconnect the SL30 when performing firmware updates on the EFIS.

To avoid the possible problem I decided to connect both the GPS and SL30 data outputs to the EMS via a SPDT selector switch. This limits you to only using one of the two devices at any one time on both the EMS and EFIS but it avoids the problem of having two devices driving the same serial line.

Perhaps I have missed something in the Dynon manuals. Hopefully Dynon Support will chime in and clear things up.

J.C.

647jc said:

Not sure if this is related to the SL30 problems but when designing my panel I ran into what I considered an ambiguity or potential problem with the way Dynon suggests connecting the EFIS, EMS, GPS and SL30. Dynon states the EFIS and EMS should be connected to each other via the DSAB bus PLUS via a null modem connection on the primary serial channel to allow the EFIS and EMS to share screen data. If you have both a GPS and SL30, they recommend connecting the GPS to aux serial channel receive (pin 19) on the EMS and the SL30 to serial channel receive (pin 22) on the EFIS. This configuration allows the EMS to display an HSI sourced from the GPS and the EFIS to display a HSI sourced from both the SL30 and GPS. Well?. Connecting the SL30 to the serial input of the EFIS could be a problem since they already have you connect the EFIS and EMS primary serial channel together with a null modem. So, you end up with both the EMS and the SL30 driving the same serial line which is a no-no unless the electronic interface is designed for such and a communication protocol allowing communication is used which I?m sure is not the case. You would also need to be able to disconnect the SL30 when performing firmware updates on the EFIS.

To avoid the possible problem I decided to connect both the GPS and SL30 data outputs to the EMS via a SPDT selector switch. This limits you to only using one of the two devices at any one time on both the EMS and EFIS but it avoids the problem of having two devices driving the same serial line.

Perhaps I have missed something in the Dynon manuals. Hopefully Dynon Support will chime in and clear things up.

J.C.

Click to expand...

If you use the HS34, wouldn't it solve your problem? As it has others interfaces?

I'm not familiar with the HS34 but from the product description it sounds like it would. It's kind of expensive, $650, when all you want to do is connect a GPS and an SL30 to the EFIS and EMS which their installation manuals say you can without the HS34.

I still think Dynon needs to clarify their installation manuals for connecting a GPS and SL30 to a combination EFIS and EMS, I really don't think they are correct but I could be wrong.

J.C.

647jc said:

I'm not familiar with the HS34 but from the product description it sounds like it would. It's kind of expensive, $650, when all you want to do is connect a GPS and an SL30 to the EFIS and EMS which their installation manuals say you can without the HS34.

I still think Dynon needs to clarify their installation manuals for connecting a GPS and SL30 to a combination EFIS and EMS, I really don't think they are correct but I could be wrong.

J.C.

Click to expand...

HS34 is REALLY expensive.

It has other functions, besides adding interface connects. But it' still kinda unaffordable!!

Not a Dynon-related issue...

I have this toggle switch with a CENTER OFF position for when I want to update software in my Dynon D-10A. It serves as the RS-232 data selector going TO the Dynon D-10A from the SL-30 or my GPS 296.



I turned off the RS-232 connection going TO the Dynon unit from the SL-30. I even turned off my GPS 296 since it can send radio frequencies to the SL-30. The problem persisted with the SL-30 frequency input errors. I checked it the next day in the hangar with the engine not running and found no problem with the SL-30. I will have to check it again to see what happens when the engine is running out on the ramp.

When I get the GPS going again, if the problem with the SL-30 comes back and the engine is NOT RUNNING, then the latest version of Garmin GPS 296 software has to be the problem. I have older GPS 296 software versions stored on my laptop hard drive. I can always move back one software revision level to see if the problem goes away.

If the problem exists ONLY when the engine is running, then filtering my DC-power bus becomes the next task. I don't own an oscilloscope anymore, which would confirm the noise on the DC power circuits.

Here is a better explanation...

647jc said:

Dynon states the EFIS and EMS should be connected to each other via the DSAB bus PLUS via a null modem connection on the primary serial channel to allow the EFIS and EMS to share screen data. If you have both a GPS and SL30, they recommend connecting the GPS to aux serial channel receive (pin 19) on the EMS and the SL30 to serial channel receive (pin 22) on the EFIS. This configuration allows the EMS to display an HSI sourced from the GPS and the EFIS to display a HSI sourced from both the SL30 and GPS. Well?. Connecting the SL30 to the serial input of the EFIS could be a problem since they already have you connect the EFIS and EMS primary serial channel together with a null modem. So, you end up with both the EMS and the SL30 driving the same serial line which is a no-no unless the electronic interface is designed for such and a communication protocol allowing communication is used which I?m sure is not the case. You would also need to be able to disconnect the SL30 when performing firmware updates on the EFIS.

To avoid the possible problem I decided to connect both the GPS and SL30 data outputs to the EMS via a SPDT selector switch. This limits you to only using one of the two devices at any one time on both the EMS and EFIS but it avoids the problem of having two devices driving the same serial line.

Perhaps I have missed something in the Dynon manuals. Hopefully Dynon Support will chime in and clear things up.

J.C.

Click to expand...

The Dynon firmware that eliminates the need for the serial connection between the EFIS and the EMS has not yet been released, but should be out in a week or two. The Dynon flight tester has been flying it for awhile and says it's working really well. However, he also asked me to state that a complete null modem connection is not needed, only a single wire that connects serial out on the EFIS to serial in on the EMS. He also suggested you rethink the switch and connect everything as the installation manual recommends, that way you'll have access to both the NAV and GPS to drive the HSI.

Finally, if you are not yet flying, you might want to reconsider the EFIS and EMS serial connection completely as the DSAB connections will take care of all that very soon.

Barry

If connecting the EFIS and EMS together via the serial connection only requires a single wire from the EFIS transmit to the EMS receive and NO wire from the EMS transmit to the EFIS receive then I guess that means the EMS probably does not drive the transmit line at all thus allowing you to connect the SL30 to the line without a transmission signal collision from the two devices (SL30 and EMS).

I currently also have the DSAB bus connected between the devices but as you stated, the current firmware does not fully support the DSAB for sharing data between the devices thus you still need the serial connection between them. I have mounted two DB9 connectors to my sub panel that are wired as a gender changer / null modem that I plug the EFIS and EMS into so when Dynon does get the new firmware out I will simply unplug the EFIS and EMS from the null modem.

I’m not sure what you mean in the statement “He also suggested you rethink the switch and connect everything as the installation manual recommends, that way you'll have access to both the NAV and GPS to drive the HSI.” Currently I select either the GPS or NAV signal via a toggle switch. That selected signal is fed into the EMS which also relays the information to the EFIS via the DSAB so both the EMS and EFIS can display an HSI sourced from either the GPS or NAV depending on which device is selected via the toggle switch. What I can’t do with this configuration is drive the EFIS from one HSI source and the EMS from the other source at the same time. Also, using a switch to select the HSI source is one of several suggested or recommended Dynon configurations.

I’ll probably leave my configuration the way it is since the switch is already mounted in the panel and selecting from the two HSI sources is pretty straight forward. This configuration also eliminates the need to remove the SL30 connection from the EFIS when doing firmware updates. Thanks for the input / clarification.

J.C.

SL-30 back to Salem, Oregon for service.

I had a chance to speak to Gary at Garmin AT in Salem, Oregon this afternoon. I described all my symptoms and my testing to be sure there was no interaction from the GPS 296 or my Dynon D-10A. He mentioned the circuits that read all the front panel key presses was the problem. I advised him of all the software versions in the unit and the serial number. My unit was purchased in late 2004, so no warranty here. The tab will be about $400 to get it back in service. Considering the cost of a new one is posted on Van's web site at $3,637, the repair fee comes in at less than 11% the cost of a new one.

For those who may be interested, my RV-9A has 238.5 hours on it. That SL-30 radio has been turned on for all those flight hours. I will post the repair details when it is known for sure. If it turns out to be a "cold solder joint", I hope they take pity on my meager budget means.

SL-30 Repaired...

I got a call from Garmin AT that my SL-30 has been repaired and is on its way back to me. I hope to get in a short flight next Saturday after returning from a business trip to Florida this week.

SL-30 returned to service...

I received my SL-30 back from Garmin AT and put it back in my RV-9A panel. All is well again, and some new hardware mods were added by the factory. I don't know what the details are about that, but it works just fine again!

Great!

glad to hear that, and the great service you seem to have gotten.

We wouldn't want to go too long without you out there keeping us safe from the Klingons and all